"Don't Laugh at Me" was a big hit for Mark Wills in 1998, but there were richer rewards for songwriters Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin. They told the story behind the song to Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Bart Herbison: One of NSAI's 50 Songs of the Year. It started sort of subconsciously at your house.

Allen Shamblin: It did. I was noodling around on the guitar one day, and my wife walked in the room and said she liked what I was noodling, and I said, “What am I doing?” She said, “You're singing about a homeless guy standing on a street corner saying, ‘Don't laugh at me.’ ”

And I said, “Really?” We started talking about my nephew wearing braces, and our daughters were starting to wear glasses. That was the seed of it that Steve and I started with.

Steve Seskin: That prompted a conversation between us about my son, also, and about kids in general. Which is interesting, because the homeless guy is in the second verse. So we didn't start it out really thinking about kids, but it led us to a conversation about growing up and times we were picked on, called names and all that — that stuff that nobody likes.

BH: I know each of you have heard stories from people maybe you suspected that didn't suffer that treatment.

SS: The thing is, when you start talking about that with people, Allen has said this before, it's (from) people who you wouldn't expect. "You? You were (bullied)?” So, you can take the really pretty blonde, and you think, “Well, she's got — look at her!” Well yeah, but a lot of people think, “Oh, there's the dumb blonde.” Well, it's usually not true. Everybody's got their problems. In the bridge of that song where it says, "I'm fat, I'm thin, I'm short, I'm tall, I'm deaf, I'm blind, hey aren't we all," that was us trying to bring it back to everybody. You know everybody's got something.

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AS: Well, it's resonated with a lot of people, and one of the great gifts of being a songwriter is finding purpose for your pain. Steve and I found a purpose for our pain through that song, and it's been useful to other people that have felt pain.

BH: Over the past couple decades, the subject of bullying has certainly come to the forefront. ... I think I want to give some credit to that song. That's when I started hearing about anti-bullying campaigns. I'm sure people have reached out to you two about it.

SS: Well, I think, you know, our song and a lot of other songs that take that — you know, Marcus Hummon had that great song (1995's "One of These Days); Tim McGraw did it. He talks to a bully and talks about his own evolution of how he treated people. ... I think hopefully a song can make you realize what it would feel like to have it done to you even if you never did.

I visit schools sometimes, and the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me is not the kids that come up and say, “Oh yeah, I can really relate to that because I've been bullied since I wore glasses.” It's the kid that comes up and says, “Hey, I really needed to hear that song, I've been being a bully.” It's only happened a couple times, kids saying, “I'm not going to do it anymore.”

BH: Yeah, but that's one of those moments that changes the next moment that changes the next moment that changes the world, really.

SS: Well, you realize why you wrote the song in a moment like that. You go, “That's why we wrote this song, that one kid in Long Island.”

BH: And by the way, props to you and his work in schools.

AS: I have to give Steve a lot of credit. He does over 150 days a year in schools throughout the United States, and he's been doing it for years and years. There's no telling how many children’s lives have been affected because of Steve and the work he does.

SS: Well, back at you ‘cause I didn't do any of those days before we wrote this song. A song can lead you — three minutes can lead you to interesting places, I'll tell you.

BH: Write it that day? Did you finish it that day?

AS: Yeah, we finished that day. Wasn’t totally sure. We wrote each verse first-person, “I'm this, I'm that,” and we were like, “We've never done that before.” Steve played the (song at the) Bluebird that night. I remember the next day, he contacted me and said, “It works.”

About the series

In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, we will interview a different songwriter about their work each week.